A few weeks back, Cognitive Networks claimed it was about to cut deals with companies that shipped what amounted to 45 per cent of the smart TVs in the US.
We have since been trying to work out market share combinations to identify those it had signed with. It made the task slightly easier this week by finally unveiling the …

Re: I don't understand something here...

I would be OK with this kind of targeted overlay advertising if it meant that either there were no breaks in the programming for actual advertising and / or it subsidised or paid the entire cost of my TV subscription.

Obviously I will also be looking to buy a stout umbrella when this comes true on account of the pig shit falling out of the sky from the flocks (herds ?) of flying pigs....

Re: I don't understand something here...

Re: I don't understand something here...

Re: I don't understand something here...

1) This would not report on what you are watching if it is a stream from another source... Internet TV, BluRay, local video file..... The data wouldn't have as much value to copyright lawyers if it just ID'd TV broadcasts.

2) Not to my mind.

Please remember that most businesses are not in business to benefit the consumer, no more than a farmer is in business to benefit sheep.

Re: I don't understand something here...

If these features are now standard, does it matter if you're not using it?

I mean, I don't use SCART input on my TV, but it's a bit like saying "I can't find any TVs without SCART inputs". I've never used the firewire on my laptop either. Or does the presence of the features cause a problem?

Re: 2) is there actually any use case in which [..] adverts is considered a benefit by the viewer?

Feck off out my living room

at least it simplifies choice of brand

Samsung off list then At last an upside to this crap near non-connection to internet thingy. So slow that smart TV will fall asleep waiting for response from cloud or the connections will break trying to upload what ever is being used to spy on my limited viewing habits. Mythbusters and ancient DS9 anyone ?

it used to be a Russian reversal

It needs a new name

The future television will have myriad extra functions, and it looks like these will all end up under the control of the advertisers rather than the viewers. Those advertisers will be able to grab any information they like about what the viewer is doing.

At this point it isn't really just a television any more, so it ought to have a new name.

So glad I no longer watch TV

Television programs on freeview as well as much that has the nerve to charge you for watching had almost taken away my will to live, so I quit!

I get so much more out of life just going online and watching something I have looked for and deliberately chosen from you tube or not watching any TV related entertainment and actually reading a dead tree book or writing, kayaking, practicing my martial arts etc or even TALKING to my wife.

Life beyond the crap that TV puts out is so much better than the brain numbing garbage the TV stations assault us with.

On the bright side for the new Intrusovision is maybe there will be better ads tailored to suit your interests based on your viewing stats.

"This in turn tells everyone what is actually playing on TV right now, which allows the owners of that content to serve advertising and other services against it."

If I had a "smart" TV it would be spending most of it's time with no network connection. Who would want both the content provider, and the content owner both feeding ads at you. Add overlays when watching a DVD? FOAD.

There are no ads being fed to me on my smart TV. On the contrary, being able to play video across the network means no ads compared to broadcast TV that has them all the time. Or I could just plug in a hard disk and have it work as a PVR, avoiding ads that way.

Always said this was where smart TVs were going

But no, idiots think they're great, since you could browse the web or watch Netflix directly on your TV. When you can watch Netflix on your computer, your phone/tablet, your cable/satellite box, your Blu Ray player, your game console and your Apple TV or Roku set top, what exactly is the need for a "smart" TV? TVs don't really even need tuners any more in most cases, if I could save the $20 the ATSC licensing fees cost by buying a 65" plasma monitor instead of a TV, I would (US law requires including a QAM and ATSC tuner in anything marketed as a television) It just needs a few HDMI inputs and I'm good.

I don't want a Shazam app inside listening to what I'm watching so it could report back to headquarters what I watch, when I watch, how long I watch and even what I FF through (ads notable by their absence) - even Blu Ray discs or Netflix content no matter how it arrives on my TV could be accounted for this way. I'm sure to be 'helpful' they'll include the eye tracking stuff like on Samsung phones so you they can tell when you are actually watching TV and when you are just listening to it while messing with your phone, or simply using it as background noise. Then it could "helpfully" turn up the volume on the ads since the only time they play on my TV is when I'm not sitting in front of it.

The problem for TV manufacturers (in their eyes) has always been that they don't make any money off the TV after they've sold it to you. They dream of being like Apple or Google in the smartphone/tablet world and making further revenue after the sale. This type of technology allows them to fix that "problem". If you buy a TV with network capability, don't plug in a cable or tell it your wireless SSID/password. There's no good reason to connect a TV to the Internet.

If they need more business

"The trick is being able to respond in real time and drop either adverts or other content in an HTML 5.0 overlay into the precise moment in a TV programme, where it is required."

This isn't going to work very well on Comcast's cable network. They can't even sync their local commercial overlays with network programming. The best example of this I can give is any product by Johnson & Johnson. Because all of J&Js 30 second commercials end with 2.5 seconds of narration that says: Johnson & Johnson, a family company; I ususally only get to hear: Johnson & Jo...

We've got to face the facts that people who are aware of the insidious nature of this tech-creep are vastly outnumbered by the idiots are out there in TV land with one hand gripping a beer and the other down their pants. Those people will be the ones buying this junk and letting it dominate their lives. The minority who don't want this will simply be ignored and will grumble about their lack of privacy in dark corners of the interwebs.

Give it 5 years and your TV will automatically offer you pay-per-view porn when it senses someone in the room jerking it to True Blood or Game of Thrones or whatever softcore is playing at the time. Heck, it'd probably chuck up an advert for tissues or lotion over whatever you're watching right at the point of no return to make sure it's seared into your brain.